Wartime heroes (l to r) Daggusin, Morel, and Mirat. Photo credit: Max Hirschkind. One of the recurring themes in my memoir, The Silk Factory: Finding Threads of My Family’s True Holocaust Story, is that most people who went through the Holocaust never talked about it to their children or grandchildren. Perhaps it was due to … Continue reading Through the Generations, Darkly
Sometimes dads screw up. I screw up all the time, as a dad, and even in my non-dad functions. One way my dad screwed up is that he changed his name from Hirschkind to Hickins. Rhymes with chickens, not quite Dickens, as American as apple pie and Doinkuss. Slim pickins indeed; no American would have … Continue reading Why I Bought Myself a Mogen David Bracelet for Father’s Day
I ordered a book of poems by Paul Zweig, because poetry is the muse to my fiction, because it pertains to the novel I’m currently working on, and because I have a peculiar connection to Paul Zweig. I met my first wife in 1984, a young French woman staying at a friend’s apartment whom I … Continue reading Departures and Returns
Holocaust memorial mural in Wiesbaden, Germany. Today is Yom HaShoah. But it’s not any Yom HaShoah. It’s the first Holocaust Remembrance Day since Hamas attacked Israel last October 7, an event which has ignited yet more antisemitism across the United States and has divided college students, left-leaning people, and even (perhaps I should say, especially) … Continue reading Yom HaShoah Today
We all come to Yom Hashoah -- Holocaust Remembrance Day – by different paths. For me, it’s an ongoing education into my family’s history, which I detail in my memoir, The Silk Factory: Finding Threads of My Family’s True Holocaust Story. And this year in particular, Yom Hashoah was jolted into my consciousness by a … Continue reading How to Interpret Yom Hashoah
As asylum-seekers drown in the Rio Grande under the indifferent eyes of the Texas National Guard, and as Donald Trump celebrates his primary victory in Iowa this week, Jews especially should take heed of language such as poisoned blood and vermin used when discussing immigration. Trump has promised that if elected, he will strip citizenship … Continue reading Vermin, Poisoned Blood, and the Jews
I’m grateful that, thanks to Rabbi David Wilfond, I’ll be a guest speaker at https://www.facebook.com/tstbedford Temple Shaaray Tefila in Bedford, NY, at the end of Sabbath services tomorrow. Two generations of Hirschkinds in the front yard of the Kupfer silk factory, the 140-year-old business that is and isn't family-owned. I’ll be discussing the journey that … Continue reading The Silk Factory and Antisemitism
Like for many people, I suppose, the Holocaust was a thing that happened a long time ago, to other people, some of whom might have been members of my family. It’s not that I minimized what it was, or the importance it played in the history of the Jews, in European history, American history, and the history of Israel – but it was history.
It’s well known that only a portion of our social media followers and friends ever see a given post, so it’s not too obnoxious to repost and repurpose stuff. But I’ve still had to fight my reticence for posting frequently on social media without having something new-ish to say each time. But I do like … Continue reading But I Digress… And Learn How to Keep My Book Relevant
Some of you know that for a year I ran a podcast called But I Digress, where I talked to dozens of published writers about the business and economics of writing – specifically with the notion that most fledgling or beginning writers are intimidated by the mysteries of the publishing industry. Do I need an … Continue reading But I Digress… And Become No. 1!
Wildfire smoke carries everywhere. Source: Wikimedia Commons I’ve always been reticent to use the term “gaslighting” because it’s so reminiscent of the term “gassing” – which is synonymous (at least to me) with the Nazi death camps like those where my grandmother, my great aunt and uncle, and many other relatives were murdered by the … Continue reading Wildfires, Silence, and the Jewish Experience
Our local library is closed in celebration of Juneteenth, but it apparently can't bring itself to say the actual words. So it calls it "the federal holiday." You can bet it will say Independence Day when it comes to July 4. This is a big deal. I realize there's a lot of political pressure from … Continue reading Why Can’t We Say Junteenth? We Have to Talk
Michael Missing 
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